Showing posts with label cat. Show all posts

Supporting Feral Cat Colonies - Help Us Trap

As one of my hobbies, hubby and I work with local groups to help trap, neuter and return cats back to their colonies.  In this process we work with a lot of people who make special trips to feed these group of cats each day.  When we start at a new location, we go in and try to find out who is feeding the animals.  We take an inventory of all the cats in the colony which is much easier if the managers know their colonies and are willing to communicate with us.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Feral Cat Colony Goldsboro N.C


Next, we work with our local SNAP (Spay Neuter Assistance Program) to bring in the trapped cats for vetting.  We work with individuals who have cats that live around their homes and with groups of volunteers to come out and feed cats in feeding stations around Goldsboro.  As trappers, we run into two main problems.

First, the over feeders.  These are the people who leave BAGS and I mean 4lb bags of food out each time they come for a visit.  The feeding guide on the back of the bag says leave out a cup of food for your cat per day.  If you put out 4lbs of food, the majority of the food is going either directly to waste, or for feeding other things such as fire ants, mice or wild animals like raccoon or opossum. This means that you are creating a problem by over feeding.  Not to mention wasting money.  Money that could be used to sponsor a colony.  If you want to help with feeding commit to a set time with a group of people and feed proportionate to the colony size.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Feral Cat Colony Goldsboro N.C


Our second issue comes from people who think we're hurting the cats.  Sometimes people will steal traps, break traps or simply trigger the trap to avoid a cat getting caught.  When we select a colony to assist with trapping we look for the snipped ears to be sure it is a good spot to trap.  If there is one cat without a tip.  We trap until all cats have a tip.  The cats are trapped in humane traps, they are not injured by being trapped.  We take them to SNAP, who sedates them before taking them out of the trap.  When they are removed from the trap they are spayed or neutered, given a physical and treated for any medical conditions they may have.  And finally they are vaccinated for standard cat illnesses and rabies while under sedation.  They tip the top of the ear and then put them back in the trap.  They stay in the trap at my house for a day or so depending on gender and how the surgery goes, then released back to their colony.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Feral Cat Colony Goldsboro N.C



Just as a side note.  Many of these businesses don't like for people to feed the cats around their buildings.  They give us a hard time and sometimes even confront our volunteers.  We had someone threatened at our station behind the Kripsy Kreme in Goldsboro just this past summer.  In this particular case it was simply that the manager did not want the cats there, in other cases the reasons can be because of the way the area looks after volunteers leave food.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Feral Cat Colony Goldsboro N.C


Leaving tons of food, empty cat food cans, paper plates and Styrofoam containers is not the correct way to take care of these cats.  It is always a good idea to grab a pair of those pinchers for picking up trash and a trash bag to have in the car along with the standard food, water and so on in the feral kit.

The main thing to remember is that working with the business owners is much more desirable.  If we understand that we need to pick up the debris instead of leaving tons of crap behind, they will be in a much better mood when they see us coming.  If you want to help the animals, the best way to do that is to work together as a team with their welfare in mind.  Check the egos at the door, and put the focus where it belongs.  These colonies need to be managed.  That means cleaning up the trash left behind and work with local rescue groups who are trying to get these cats to vets.  We need to stop them from breeding so that we don't have hundreds of cats around Goldsboro.

If you'd like to get involved with helping these cats in Goldsboro or if you already help but want to coordinate with our team so that we can help these cats in a more organized way, feel free to join our Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/goldsboroferals


To get updates on when and where we're trapping be sure to "like" and choose "get notifications" on Renee's Rescues Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/reneesrescues


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Feral Cat Colony Goldsboro N.C





Help us help them.

Stay-cation - Day 6

Today was good day.  Hubby helps out a friend of ours by taking her son to school.  Today and tomorrow are the last days of the school year so he went off early this morning to take care of that.  While he was away I went outside to finish up his chores really fast so maybe we could go to a movie or do something fun that he might like.

Part of my chores in the morning is feeding the feral colony outside and getting the eggs.  Hubby waters the garden.

A little blurry but here is White Tip in front, Ragged Tooth behind her and back on the back fence you can see Lou sitting waiting for his turn.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
 This is Brown Kitty (yes, I'm running out of names).

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
 This handsome boy is Phantom.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Smudge didn't show to the bowls until late, I'll get a pic of him next time.

The hens have decided that all the eggs must be placed in the same nest.  Even if one hen is already in the nest.  We have six nests for 7 chickens. They all lay in the same nest.  Sometimes a different nest, but all in the same nest each day.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

This morning Hubby needed to hoe the garden and cut the grass along the edge.  So I did all the chores really fast.  The cucumbers are doing really well, tomatoes.. eh..  Melons... pretty good.   I only photographed the Melons and the Cucumbers, I'm trying to shame the tomatoes into growing better.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
When hubby came back I was sure he would take me to see X-Men or something, I surprised him with his completed chores and asked him what he wanted to do.  He said.... (wait for it)  Buy a door.

Yeah, that's right, he wanted to go buy a door.  So we piled in the truck and went to buy a door.  We found a door at Habitat for Humanity yesterday, so we decided to go see if it was still there.

We scored our door and then took a drive.  We like to ride together.  We used to be stuck on the 5 coming from Oceanside to San Diego every day driving from work to home when we lived on the West Coast.  We loved just sitting and talking in the car.  We found locations for 3 new Flea Markets we plan to check out over the weekend.  We grabbed some lunch and then headed home.

Hubby began the door work.  He took off the old door, did some stuff with the chisel and then asked me to hold the door.  He then had to leave to go pick up the kid from school.  He came back and finished it.  Now I have an awesome new door in the studio!

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
I really love the door handle.  It looks almost like the pages of a book on the top.  Lots of character.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
 After dinner we had to go release the kitties we got spayed yesterday.  Here are the two we released.





We then went for ice cream and came home.  I have the best life in the world.  And the best husband.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Now time for some TV and off to bed.

Stay-cation Day 5

Today was vet day.  Last night after dinner we put an extra trap at the Country Skillet restaurant in Goldsboro to see if we could catch one of the three ferals that live there.  This morning on our way out to the vet we had indeed trapped one very angry cat.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


Then we were SpayToday bound.  We went out with the little baby we trapped, one from Pet Palace that hubby had to catch with a fish net and the gray mama we've been trying to trap for weeks.

We didn't have time to grab breakfast so we thought we'd pick something up in Greenville.  The company and the sunrise was lovely but for the dead bugs on the windshield.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
We got stuck behind just about every school bus in Greene County but we rolled into the SpayToday office just 5 minutes late.  As I start filling out the paperwork they ask me how many I have.  I tell them four.  She said OH, you can't bring four only 2 per person.  I pointed at hubby and they said, he doesn't count.  I was like Oh crap.  I have four trapped cats in my truck.  After a quick discussion hubby and I decided to fix the two we knew for certain were females, bring the baby and the one from Country Skillet back home where we dropped off the baby kitten

We had planned to have breakfast in Greenville but with the two cats still in traps we decided to head back home.  As we're driving back I remember that Cottage Animal Clinic is on the way home, sort of, and Dr. Manning there will do ferals without an appointment.  I quickly get on the phone and call in.  Sure enough Dr. Manning will do it for me.  I'm not sure of the gender so it's 50/50 on how much it will end up costing us. We take to Greenville when we can because it's cheaper and no appointment is needed.  Up until today it had gone off without a hitch.  I call a couple of other volunteers and we work out the possibility of a voucher in case the bill is over $100.00.

We finally get back to Goldsboro and get some breakfast.  After breakfast, Hubby needed some cording for the bodices so off to Joann we go!

Did you know you could buy a Leprechaun that poops candy at Joann?

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

I saw this cute book.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
And this adorable stamp that immediately reminded me of my sister.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


Next we went to the thrift store.  I found this awesome Barbie Doll called "Spell Secrets Barbie".  She comes with a special magic potion that you can drink!!   The info on the back however said it was for entertainment purposes only.  Bummer.  I bought it anyway.  I have the first part of a future Hecate project now.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


I also saw this cool Mr. Potato Head pumpkin thingy.  It was neat.  I didn't buy it but it was cute.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Next we went to Habitat for Humanity's Resale Store.  They didn't have anything really cool to buy but they did have the interesting document that listed out what at first, I thought was color magic then noticed the bible versus on the end.  Interesting....



Next we went to the price club to buy a couple big bags of cat food and fill up on gas.  I didn't photo here, it was boring.

By now it was time to head back to pick up the last cat we dropped off, then drive back to Greenville to pick up the SpayToday drop offs.  Our SpayToday drop offs turned out to be a female so luckily we had a certificate to get a discount on her spay.  We packed her up and headed to Greenville.  At SpayToday we had about a 10 minute wait so I took some photos of the flowers.

We drove the Pet Palace kitty back to her place, and brought the rest home.  Now I'm finishing up dinner and trying to relax.  After we release these guys tomorrow night we'll be on break until Monday for any trapping.  All this work we do is why I do my fundraisers.  If you might be interested in helping me do what I do, I'm currently offering a free Cat's Eye Pendant to anyone who donates at least $25.  That's 1/2 the cost of us to get one cat fixed.



Donations can be made by the link on my side bar!


Stay-cation Day 3

Happy Day 3!!

Today I started out with a nice cup of coffee in my thrift store find.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

You can't head out to check on the colonies without supplies.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


Next  we headed out to have some breakfast.  We usually don't eat out often because there's really not that many healthy choices locally.  The place we went to had a little heart on the items on their menu that were healthy.   Hubby and I laughed and laughed.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


We then headed out to check our traps.  There's a guy in our area that lives in a shed.  He was watching my traps and called me last night to tell me I had one in the trap.  I went and found it was one that already had an ear tip.  We released it and hubby was looking in the back and saw another kitten.  So we reset the trap and put it out to try to get him.  I saw a cool flower bush while I was out.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


We saw a kitty that looked like it might need some vet care.  

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


I recently broke my water cup, so after the kitties were all finished we went to Big Lots to find a cup.  We didn't find a cup but I found some cute shoes!

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

I also found these awesome yoga frogs.  We didn't buy them, but I did snap a pic of them and the gnome next door.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Before we headed back home, hubby thought we should check the traps.  We rode through and all were empty.  BUT ONE.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

This little one will be socialized and we'll be trying to get him into the SpayToday $20 kitten fix-a-thon for June.  


We headed back home to do some stuff around the house.  Hubby let me use the dremel.  I still have all my fingers and nothing was broken.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

I'm currently working on several wands.  These aren't like the Harry Potter style wands I made before. These will have crystals in them and will be sweeeet!

Here's a sneak peek.  They are a LONG way from being done.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


I also was able to get a photo of one of the crystal balls we carry on this awesome crystal ball stand I found at the thrift store.  I know it's probably not really a crystal ball stand but I really liked the way it looked.  It had good energy so we picked it up.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


Hubby ate a pear and got a belly ache.  There's no photos of that because he doesn't like to have pictures taken when he's a "poor baby".

Next we headed back out to check the traps again.  We checked the first location.... nothing.  Second location... well, it's not a cat!

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson



It was a little baby opossum.  We released the little guy and reset the trap.

We did end up getting a video of the new kitten - Here he is with Nightshade.



The rest of the evening will be spent hanging out with hubby.

Stay-cation - Day 1

So first day of my stay-cations I usually like to just cruise around to check out thrift stores.  I love going to them.  There's always something awesome I can find.

I thought what a cool idea to take my blog followers on my stay-cation with me.  So here we go!


We started out the day by having coffee and then headed out to feed the ferals.  As we were pulling out the driveway I noticed that my cactus was blooming.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


I love taking pictures.  This one shows just how much that yellow pops off the green. Stunning.

Next we went to the group that live behind a place called Morgan's.  This is the same spot where we are currently trapping.  We stopped in and checked on the kitten traps.  Both were empty.  We did spot a new cat.  When hubby tried to take a picture he did a impromptu selfie.  I thought it was cute so I saved it.

Photo Credit - Elijah Olson

We finished feeding in the area and I was able to see one of the little ones peek at me.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Next we stopped in to feed the little one that hung out with Traveler.  Traveler passed away earlier this week and it was good to see this one still around.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
We dropped the food and then head out for breakfast and gas to head to Raleigh. 

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson


Now was some time for hit the thrift stores, Trader Joe's and then head back home.

I love Trader Joe's.  We have a great time there.  We picked up some nice organics and I took this awesome picture of the watermelon display.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
After Trader Joe's we packed up the goodies and headed home.  It was a long drive but the company was great!  We chatted about politics while I was totally being grossed out by my friends on Loren's share of this crazy picture and the discussion of soggy bread!

Facebook Share - Loren Morris

So finally home, unpacking my goodies and getting ready for a quiet night at home.

Here are the amazing deals I found at the assorted thrift stores.  This is a really cool wall hanging box that I found.  I think I'm going to repaint it, take off the painted scallop on the top piece and make a small altar out of it.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Here I found some cool beads for rings and jewelry a compass set for Hubby and a really cool looking crystal ball stand that looks like lapis lazuli snakes!    I got another tiny little box and a cool bottle.


Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
This is my super cool Starbucks swag and awesome anchor measuring cup.  Both for $2.00.
Photo Credit -Renee Sosanna Olson



There you have it.  Stay-cation Day 1.   Thanks for taking a peek and seeing my crazy.


Throwback Thursday - Cats not Pots

Today I usually post videos or photos of my pots.  I've been extremely busy of the last few weeks and have not been able to take some time to sit my tushy down at the wheel and throw anything.  

As many of you are aware I work a full time job with a consulting firm as well as run my own business – Sosanna’s Closet as well as working animals.

I have actively starting working with PawnHand rescue in Goldsboro to help trap, fix and return their cats to their colonies.  At this point we've been able to capture 3 of their cats and get them fixed.  Trapping cats can be a challenge.  They’re pretty smart and will catch on very quickly to the metal cages being left in the area.  Working with the volunteers to lower the amount of food being left out helped us a great deal in getting those cats trapped.
Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson



We round up the cats and take them to either SpayToday in Greenville NC or if the timing is right we can take them to the SNAP van that comes to Goldsboro.  We end up paying about $50 per cat for vetting.  The vet will snip off the top part of the cat’s ear, so we know if it ends up in the trap next time, he’s already been fixed.

My personal goal is to help PawnHand get all of their cats fixed by the end of the summer.  In order to do this we need to get lots of donations.  I’m going to kick off a fundraiser next week.  I’ll be sending out amazing resin cat’s eye pendants to anyone who donates a minimum of $25.00 to the rescue.

So stay tuned to see these great pendants.  I can’t wait to get them online!

Here's a video of the release of one of the cats - Sebastian.



If you'd like to help with a donation or a monthly sponsorship check the link on the sidebar or head over to my website to donate today!